A: Disk Drive Dollar Bank

Give those old A: disk drives a new life and find a use for those "AOL" A: disks. Makes a great geek gift :)

After finding an old non-working A: drive in the basement, I wanted to try and make a neat little gift for my nephew (get him started at an early age :P ) using it. I figured at his age he'd enjoy watching a color changing light, but at the same time I wanted to make the gift functional in some way. I decided to make the A: disk into a dollar bill holder, while the drive would be the bank.

Materials:
1. Old A: Disk Drive
2. A: Disk
3. Small magnet (1 or 2)
4. Two Rainbow Flashing 5mm LED (Blinking LED)
http://www.goldmine-elec-products.com/prodinfo.asp?number=G13897
5. Foil Insulation Tape
6. A 100 ohm resistor
7. Electrical wire
8. Solder and Soldering Iron
9. Strong Glue (Gorilla Glue)
10. Exacto Knife
11. Flat and star headed screwdrivers
12. Wire cutters/strippers (or scissors)
13. Thin ferrous scrap metal (if you only want to use one magnet)
14. Toothpicks
15. Small momentary switch
16. 9v battery clip
17. 9v battery
18. Fluorescent light diffusing panel
19. Well vented area
20. Goggles
21. Electrical tape

Warning: There are dangerous fumes involved with this project. Be careful with all sharp, hot, and harmful items. Use a gas mask if you have one...

DiskBank2.AVI3 MB

DiskBank3.AVI11 MB

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Step 1: Dollar Bill Holder

First we start off making the dollar bill holder. I had already made it, but just follow the steps I lay out before you and refer to the photos below and you can easily make one too.

1. First of all, get an old A: disk that you don't care about (hence the AOL disk).
2. Insert a flat head screwdriver into one of the sides of the disk (through the seam).
3. Gently pry the disk open (top and sides). Leave the bottom attached. If anything falls out, find it and put it aside.
4. Using a small piece of a toothpick, prop the disk open as shown in the photos.
5. Take out the metal disc from the inside and using scissors, cut all the black material off the metal disc.
6. Glue the disc into the groove that it belongs in. Also glue the "write/locked" tab in the corner onto the track it came from.
7. Allow glue time to dry. Start warming up your soldering iron.
8. Once the glue has dried, take your soldering iron and melt a hole in the center/top of the disk (on the inside). Do the same on the opposite side (once again, on the inside).
9. Glue the magnet into one of the holes. Allow it to dry.
10. Flip the disk over and either glue a small piece of the ferrous scrap metal into the hole or another magnet (depening on how many bills you plan on placing in each disk). Allow glue to dry.

After the glue has dried completely, you will have you're very own dollar bill holder. Just slide the money in and close the "clasp" of the holder...
Next, the disk holding bank.

BlueFusion says: May 30, 2007. 3:08 AM

Agh! Technology manglery! PLEASE DO NOT USE A SOLDERING IRON FOR MELTING ANYTHING EVER! You can use a x-acto knife or similar on the smooth side of the frosted plastic, then snap it. Provided you traced the line hard enough it will break cleanly. Nice use for an AOL disk though.

FrenchCrawler (author) says: Jun 1, 2007. 1:45 AM

I have no problem using this iron for melting plastic... It's actually a wood burning iron and is only 25 watts which a good soldering iron is around 60. I have another soldering iron at 30 watts which I don't use to melt anything but solder. Also I've tried using an x-acto knife before. It doesn't cut deep enough.

BlueFusion says: Jun 1, 2007. 2:18 AM

its not supposed to cut through it, just score it. then snap it. and its not 'a wood burning iron only 25w' my soldering iron is only 30w and its perfectly good. p.s. no iron is specifically for burning wood, its probably just an old soldering iron and 60 watts is like, a serious $200 soldering station.

FrenchCrawler (author) says: Jun 2, 2007. 1:27 AM

I never said it had to cut through, but since the x-acto doesn't cut deep enough into the plastic, when you go to snap along the score marks, the plastic splinters and cracks instead of getting a clean edge. My iron came from a wood burning kit... it does melt solder, but takes longer and isn't good for electronic circuits which are not suppose to be exposed to long periods of heat. You can get a good 60w iron from eBay for around $30-$40, I just don't have the money right now to spend.

BlueFusion says: Jun 3, 2007. 1:20 AM

Hmm. Maybe that sort of plastic doesn't like snapping. Ok, now I have heard of a wood burning iron. My soldering iron is fine, and its 30 watts. Maybe you could use a hacksaw to cut the plastic (assuming you have one; most ppl do) but anything is better than melting it. Unless you want to lose five years of your life. (NASTY fumes)

FrenchCrawler (author) says: Jun 3, 2007. 9:54 AM

That's why I hooked up a large 12v PC fan to my power supply to draw the fumes away from me while melting. That's also why I warned people of the danger of the fumes involved with this project.